The International Intruder Meets An International Terrorist

A few days back I mentioned the International Intruder, as a tabloid style inside joke of sorts. If you haven't seen it, just click on the Intruder tag below and you'll find it soon enough. At our joint blog a couple of days ago, we did an interview with one of our characters in the tabloid style. Check it out if you haven't seen it. Today, I'm doing the same with one of my characters, and it's an introduction. Navi Rauf is the primary villain in the next book I'll be writing, called Sword of the Faith. It takes place a year before Heaven & Hell, and the character and his organization rate a mention or two in the latter book. Obviously the character himself, as you'll see... probably wouldn't have nearly as much patience with a real reporter as he does with this tabloid one, let alone a sense of humour. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Exclusive to readers of the International Intruder, an interview with a wanted terrorist.

Navi Rauf, leader of the group calling itself Saif al Din, or in English, Sword Of The Faith, agreed to speak with this reporter at an undisclosed location somewhere in the Middle East. This reporter met with associates of Rauf, was blindfolded and taken by car well out into the desert. There, at a non-descript home late at night, this reporter personally interviewed Rauf. The man himself has the hard look of someone who’s lived on the rough edge of life. For over twenty years, Rauf and his group have been hunted by intelligence agencies, police organizations, and military forces across the world. They are implicated in multiple attacks, bombings, and assassinations.

Intruder: Mr. Rauf, you are considered one of the most wanted men in the world among law enforcement and intelligence communities, though you’re not as well known to the general public. Why do you think that is?

Rauf: Unlike some of the higher profile resistance groups, we don’t have spokesmen or media outlets on speed dial. That’s the sort of behavior that tends to end up with unmanned drones launching missiles on you, after all. We do try to be careful.

Intruder: And yet you’re speaking to us, as a reporter, now.

Rauf: True. There are times when it’s required. And we’ve been careful with you. We know you are not being traced in any way, and even if you were to find your way back here, we would be long gone.

Intruder: You’ve committed a large number of attacks and operations against multiple targets since the founding of your organization. What is your purpose?

Rauf: That’s for me to know and for them to find out.

Intruder: That doesn’t qualify as an answer. Who’s them?

Rauf: The law enforcement and intelligence communities, as you say.

Intruder: Surely you can answer the question, sir. What drives your group?

Rauf: They would call us terrorists. Zionists. The fools of the West. Those who would seek to accomodate, to be at peace. And yet too often, they are the ones who have brought terror, with their smart bombs and their indiscriminate killings. If that is the only language they understand, then we will reply in such words. We bring their terror back upon them ten fold. You ask what drives us? Look at a child or a young mother slaughtered by a bomb that fell off course. Look at what’s left of them. That is reason enough, don’t you think?

Intruder: We imagine that’s sufficient, yes.

Rauf: I wasn’t being too overly dramatic, was I?

Intruder: Our readers will make that decision for themselves.

Rauf: Very well. You don’t mind if I ask a question of you, do you?

Intruder: Of course not.

Rauf: Why do you do that whole referring to yourself in the plural thing? You say we imagine, or our readers. Is that some sort of personal eccentricity, or a journalism default position?

Intruder: We have no idea what you’re talking about.

Rauf: There. You just did it again.

Intruder: Did what?

Rauf: Never mind.

Intruder: Shall we get back to it?

Rauf: Do you mean we in the sense of you and I talking, or we in the sense of referring to yourself?

Intruder: We swear, we don’t know where you’re getting this from.

Rauf: Just ask the next question before I start to get into a bad mood.

Intruder: Your organization was implicated in the Geneva bombing last year, and in the assassination of the Jordanian ambassador to the UN the year before that. These are but two incidents on the record of Saif al Din. What do you have to say to those who had family members killed in such attacks?

Rauf: Casualties that were required in an ongoing war.

Intruder: And yet just moments ago you spoke of indiscriminate killings.

Rauf: Our operations are directed and focused. Yes, there are times when innocent lives are lost, but such is war. And this is a war, believe me. Who else will stand up to those who would seek to crush us beneath our heels, if not those of us with strength? Who else will do what needs to be done?

Intruder: You know, you almost sound like you could be running for office speaking like that.

Rauf: Not a chance. I don’t like politicians.

Intruder: We don’t think much of them ourselves.

Rauf: You did it again.

Intruder: Did what?

Rauf: Speaking in plural, you idiot.

Intruder: We said no such thing.

Rauf: Why did I agree to sit down with a reporter?

Intruder: If we could carry on? Your group, Saif al Din, translates in English to Sword of the Faith, does it not?

Rauf: It is a name steeped in history. The godless invaders during the Crusades met heroic men of that name. Others have carried it since. Those who follow me use the name with pride. We are the sword, the weapon of the righteous. We will drive hard into the heart of any enemy who stands against us.

Intruder: Does saying that help in the recruiting process?

Rauf: Oh, yes, you have to have something that stirs the blood, and gets your people behind you. It also helps that we don’t require anyone to become suicide bombers. Or martyrs, as they say in Hezbollah. You know, if you ask me, those guys are a little crazy.

Intruder: Have you ever wondered if maybe you should slow down? Retire? Take up a hobby? Has it occured to you that one day your luck might run out?

Rauf: I have a mission in life. When that’s the case, you don’t retire or take up a hobby. You carry out what must be done. That’s what I do.

Intruder: And if your luck does run out?

Rauf: Luck is for fools gambling on horses.

Intruder: We happen to like betting a c-note from time to time. Last time we did that, it was a horse named Lucky Never Loses. Of course, Lucky Never Loses wasn’t so lucky that night. Came in dead last. Oh, well, these things happen, but we have to just keep soldiering on.

Rauf: You’re doing it again.

Intruder: Doing what?

Rauf: Never mind. Just get out. Before I decide to have you shot. My men will take you back to where you came from.

Intruder: But we still have more questions for you...

Rauf: Next time I do one of these interviews, I’ll ask for Anderson bloody Cooper.

Arnold Vosloo

Faran Tahir

Post script: I could see Navi Rauf played by either Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) or Faran Tahir (Iron Man)...

The Avengers Destroy The Competition For Box Office Supremacy

Before going into today's mischief, take a look over at Lyn Fuchs' Sacred Ground Travel Magazine, where today I wrote about the Bay of Fundy. 

A word of explanation to start off. Years ago, my partner in crime Norma and some of her fellow writers had something of an inside joke in their novels, a fictional tabloid called the International Intruder. The tabloid made the occasional appearance, enough so that their fans picked up on it and asked if they all knew each other.

Recently Norma thought of resurrecting the notion, as another sort of inside joke. We've started up a Facebook page for the International Intruder, so check that out and like it. We've done the occasional tabloid style blurb for our own books and others, as well as skewed takes on other items of interest, some of which I'm reprinting below. You may have already seen this some days ago if you're following Norma's blog; if you're not, this will be a first for you. And on occasion the International Intruder will turn up again in this blog and in my own works; I've got an idea for introducing to you the villain in my next novel through a tabloid interview of sorts.

Anyway, what with the Avengers film doing big business at the box office, Norma and I wrote up several of these blurbs in the tabloid style, mixing and matching the characters against other film hits. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!

Dateline Panem: The Hunger Games were interrupted unexpectedly today when leading contender Katniss Everdeen was abruptly taken out by expert archer and Avengers assassin Hawkeye, who met with no resistance from observers. All who saw the final defeat of Katniss were in awe of the superior archer...and afraid to piss him off!

Dateline Forks: Avenger and SHIELD agent Black Widow was sighted in this Pacific Northwest town in recent days, coinciding with the deaths of several people, confirmed by sheriff Charlie Swan to be vampires and werewolves. One of the dead includes Sheriff Swan's daughter Bella. "I knew it would end up this way sooner or later," Swan told reporters. "She got mixed up with the wrong people, started down this path that I couldn't talk her out of, and now she's gone." Witnesses, meanwhile, were astonished by the ease with which the Widow dispatched all of the supernatural beings who tried to attack her. "It was like she wasn't even trying," one witness told us.

Dateline Collinsport: Chaos reigns at the Collinwood estate, where the Incredible Hulk, a member of the Avengers, has been on the rampage for several hours now. It has been confirmed that the angry green rage monster has stomped vampire Barnabas Collins into his native soil once and for all, shouting "Puny vampire!"

Dateline Pandora: Asgardian God of Thunder and Avenger Thor travelled to this distant planet and laid waste to the native inhabitants. A vicious race of blue skinned religious zealots, the Pandorians were bent on interstellar conquest while passing themselves off as benevolent and peaceful. The thunderer told reporters, "those smurfs had it coming."

Dateline North Atlantic: After expressing displeasure with his on board suite, billionaire Tony Stark, also known as the Avenger Iron Man, has bought the Titanic--and sunk it. You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen. There was no iceberg. Oh, and Stark reportedly referred to the journeyman artist Jack Dawson as a yellow bellied coward and an "Oliver Twist."

Dateline Hogwarts: Captain America, the heroic soldier of World War Two and leader of the Avengers, led a raid into a wizard's school on the British isles this weekend. When asked by reporters why students were detained, the Captain informed us that reports of demonic activity, including moving pictures, fantastic creatures, and an emphasis on the Dark Arts were more then enough reason to shut down the school. There has been no comment from Headmistress McGonagall as to possible retribution.

Dateline Empire: Loki, the treacherous Asgardian god of mischief, was sighted holding the Imperial Death Star hostage this weekend. The Dark Side powers of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine were helpless against the trickster, who unleashed an army of Loki duplicates against the storm troopers on the battle station. Loki was only satisfied and left peacefully after the galaxy's most annoying life form, Jar-Jar Binks was executed.